Miss Undine's Living Room (Voices of the South) (Paperback)

~ James Wilcox (Author) "MRS. UNDINE COMES FREE FOR SHUT-INS," Olive was saying to the old man as she pressed a strip of electric tape to his plump, womanish..." (more)
Key Phrases: retarded way, own dull, home attendant, Donna Lee, Tula Springs, Robin Downs (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this loose, sprawling novel, Wilcox is back in tiny Tula Springs, La., the setting of Modern Baptists and North Gladiola. Here, he takes an oblique approach to crime solving that is, in essence, a wry study of small-town eccentrics and miscreants as they go their busy ways campaigning for political office, stirring up trouble in City Hall, or carrying on clandestine affairs. The crime itself is largely ignored for much of the book. Did Mr. Versey, a nasty male nurse, jump to his death from Uncle L. D. Loraine's second-story window, or did Uncle L. D., a bedridden and befuddled nonagenarian, push him? Donna Lee Keeley, a fresh-faced, brisk young lawyer takes the case when authorities mull over bringing Uncle L. D. before a grand jury. Dr. Munrow, the upright principal of the local prep school, visits Uncle L. D. privately and strongly advises him to admit to murder. Mrs. Undine, a former civics teacher who knows everyone and everything, and Olive Mackie, a distant relative of Uncle L. D., are at the center of the action, and Olive eventually pulls all the strings necessary to solve the mystery. Wilcox's droll humor as he chronicles the slightly peculiar way of life in Tula Springs should keep readers chuckling.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Louisiana State University Press (April 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0807126993
• ISBN-13: 978-0807126998
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,665,394 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Southern Comfort, February 23, 2002

By	lvkleydorff (CT. USA) - See all my reviews

Imagine yourself at a particles accelerator at CERN.

First, assemble the ingredients. Mrs. Olive Mackie, her husband Duane and her teenage son Felix. Uncle L. D., age 91, who depends on various females of this story to keep him going. Dr Martin Bates, student of dentistry, so helpful and charming... Assorted women of the neighborhood, who all went to school together. And, of course, Miss Undine, the retired schoolteacher of them all.

Now, mix them all together and accelerate. Gossip and rumors start spinning, congealing into delicious back biting. Wait for it to stop spinning, to see whose life and reputation is still in one piece.

A delightful book, full of humor and sharply etched pictures of life in a small southern town.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful!, October 29, 2007

By	Skydog (Darmstadt, Germany) - See all my reviews

The third novel about the bunch of excentric characters living in the fictional, but oh-so-real, Tula Springs, Louisiana.
Funny and sad. And very intelligent. Wonderfully written.
"Mr. Wilcox has real comic genius. He is a writer to make us all feel hopeful" said Anne Tyler.